Howie Roseman

TRYING TO determine the primary reason for the Eagles' bad-awful pass defense last year is like trying to find an answer to the old chicken-or-egg question. Was it the meek pass rush, which recorded just 30 sacks and too often gave opposing quarterbacks enough time to get a mani-pedi let alone find an open receiver? Or was it the mistake-prone secondary, which managed to turn coverage-blowing into a 16-game art form? Clearly, there was enough blame to go around for the franchise-record 33 touchdown passes the Eagles gave up, their league-worst 99.6 opponent passer rating and their measly eight interceptions.

Fresh out of Fordham Law School a mere 10 years ago, Howie Roseman showed up at Veterans Stadium ready for the first day of his Eagles internship. He felt as high as a first-round draft choice. "I come in, I'm wearing a shirt and tie - I'm in the National Football League," Roseman said. Roseman reported to Joe Banner, the Eagles' president, who had hired him to concentrate on salary cap issues. Right away, Roseman had a question for his new boss: "Where do I sit?" Banner told Roseman the truth.

Picture this: The Eagles are on the clock with the No. 4 overall pick and the first three prospects on their draft board already have been chosen. The best available player is graded appreciably lower than the first three, isn't a schematic fit, and the Arizona Cardinals are offering the No. 7 selection and a third-rounder to move up three spots. The Birds brain trust has prepared for this scenario, but someone has to make the final decision. Will it be Chip Kelly or Howie Roseman?

AS ANDY REID trudged toward his inevitable end as Eagles head coach last December, attention naturally pushed in the direction of Howie Roseman, the Eagles' cherub-faced general manager operating in only his first season without Joe Banner over his shoulder. Some, including his boss, Jeffrey Lurie, saw Roseman as a shrewd judge of talent, crediting him with the choices made in the 2012 draft, while discounting his culpability in previous drafts and transactions, including the great free-agent "Dream Team" debacle of 2011, which accelerated the Eagles' dive from playoff contender to their current status among NFL rebuilders.

THEY SAY GREAT minds think alike, but in the NFL, at least, that's not always the case. Take Bill Parcells and George Young. Parcells, who will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame this summer, is one of the best coaches in NFL history. Young, who should be in Canton, was one of the best judges of football flesh the game has known. Young, who died in 2001, was the general manager of the Giants for 19 seasons (1979-97). Parcells worked for him as head coach for eight of those seasons (1983-90)

Howie Roseman could have puffed out his chest or pointed fingers or reveled in an afternoon of vindication. Because as Eagles general manager, Roseman will eventually receive blame and criticism again. It's an occupational hazard. Yet on a day when Roseman was billed as influential in helping the Eagles land Chip Kelly as head coach, he refused to admit he felt vindicated when offered the forum. "I don't want to make this about me," Roseman said. "I think it's about our organization, our team, and giving our fans back the team they're used to. That would be vindication to me. " Roseman had been the target of criticism during the Eagles' coaching search, especially when they appeared to be exhausting their list of candidates.

Jon Gruden and Eagles general manager Howie Roseman have both been drawing questions - in different ways, says Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports. Gruden has been contacted by four clubs about their head-coaching jobs - and has turned them all down, the "NFL Insider" reports , not naming names. Roseman, on the other hand, is being whispered about around the league as a hindrance to the Eagles landing a top-notch coach, La Canfora wrote this morning . As of 10 days ago, Gruden hadn't spoken with the Eagles, according to ESPN analyst and ex-Eagles quarterback Ron Jaworski . Since then, Gruden has been widely endorsed for the Eagles job not only by Jaworski, but former Eagles coach Dick Vermeil , NFL Network analyst Mike Mayock , former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell , and Inquirer columnist Phil Sheridan . And Gruden would be interested in the right job. "He would have loved a shot at the Carolina job, the chance to work with [quarterback]

Remember the names Mike McCoy, Jay Gruden, and Ben McAdoo. All three assistant coaches are considered candidates for head coaching jobs this offseason, but more important, and in relation to the Eagles, all three are represented by agent Bob LaMonte. When Eagles general manager Howie Roseman hired LaMonte as his agent during the 2011 offseason it is unlikely he imagined it would come in handy two years later as he prepares to help owner Jeffrey Lurie find Andy Reid's replacement.

Jeffrey Lurie said that he was holding Howie Roseman accountable for only the 2012 season when the Eagles owner explained Monday why he was retaining the general manager. "The mistakes that were made in the 2011 draft have little or nothing to do with Howie's evaluations," Lurie said. "I think it was important for me to own up to the mistakes that were made and understand where they were coming from, and it was awfully clear. So an effort was made to streamline the entire operation.

TRYING TO determine the primary reason for the Eagles' bad-awful pass defense last year is like trying to find an answer to the old chicken-or-egg question. Was it the meek pass rush, which recorded just 30 sacks and too often gave opposing quarterbacks enough time to get a mani-pedi let alone find an open receiver? Or was it the mistake-prone secondary, which managed to turn coverage-blowing into a 16-game art form? Clearly, there was enough blame to go around for the franchise-record 33 touchdown passes the Eagles gave up, their league-worst 99.6 opponent passer rating and their measly eight interceptions.

The Eagles made another attempt at a low-risk acquisition of a onetime high draft pick by signing former Cowboys running back Felix Jones to a one-year contract Tuesday, adding Jones to a crowded backfield. "I was just really trying to see what's out there," Jones said. "Once I visited the Eagles and I got to know the coaches and figure out the system and how things would be going, I kind of liked it. I felt like it fit me. " Jones, 26, has averaged 4.8 yards per carry during his five-year career.

The Eagles worked out former Cowboys running back Felix Jones on Tuesday at the NovaCare Complex. A free agent, Jones was a multipurpose back in Dallas. He ran for 2,728 yards on 569 carries (a 4.8-yards average) and caught 127 passes for 1,062 yards in five seasons. He also scored 11 rushing touchdowns, caught three more through the air and averaged 24 yards on kick returns. Jones returned a kick 98 yards for a score against the Eagles when he was a rookie. The Eagles could be in the market for an upgrade at running back.

GRADING the draft 10 days after it ends is truly mission impossible. Virtually all of the experts agree that it takes at least 3 years before you can get an accurate reading. Nonetheless, we all do it. Chip Kelly's first draft as Eagles coach got generally good marks - I give it a solid B, a grade made more credible by the fact that it was the same as that given by the great Ray Didinger. There were a few naysaying analysts who opined that Kelly's strategy of picking the highest-rated player on the board resulted in us ignoring the greatest need: defense.

Both Eagles coach Chip Kelly and general manager Howie Roseman heaped praise on Matt Barkley after the surprising selection of the Southern California quarterback Saturday in the fourth round of the NFL draft. But Roseman would not confirm the presumption that Barkley was a top-10 pick last season. "We didn't spend enough time through the whole evaluation process to tell you what he was in last year's draft," Roseman said. And Roseman is not the only one with that view. It's almost without dispute that Barkley would have gone well before the fourth round had he left school after his junior season in 2011, when Barkley threw for 3,528 yards and a Pac-12-record 39 touchdowns with only seven interceptions.

There was enough footage from Zach Ertz's all-American season for the Eagles to form an evaluation, but one play by the redshirt junior continues to resonate with coach Chip Kelly. In Stanford's 17-14 overtime win at Oregon on Nov. 17, Ertz caught a game-tying touchdown pass late in the fourth quarter before the Cardinal handed Kelly and the Ducks their lone loss. The catch was initially ruled incomplete, but the call was overturned and the play ruled a touchdown. Kelly did not agree with the ruling.

Chip Kelly already has found one component of NFL coaching that he prefers to college: player acquisition. At Oregon, Kelly spent years scouting and building relationships with fickle teenagers and trying to persuade them to play in Eugene. In the NFL, Kelly spent a few months watching the best college prospects and picked the players he wanted when it was the Eagles' turn. "It's over and done with in three days and you're not on the phone with a 16-year-old high school kid for five years," Kelly said.

THE MATT BARKLEY stunner aside, there were two major Eagles surprises when the draft process concluded. The rebuilding Birds, who had just one selection in the second, third, fourth and fifth rounds, were never able to trade down and acquire more. Eagles coach Chip Kelly brought that up without being asked in one of his weekend media sessions, volunteering that nobody called when the Eagles were on the clock at fourth overall or 35th. That led to the second surprise: As happy as they might have been with getting offensive tackle Lane Johnson in the first round or tight end Zach Ertz in the second, adding a second-, third- or a fourth-rounder might have allowed the Eagles to address their secondary problems a little earlier than the fifth round (safety Earl Wolff)

THEY SAY GREAT minds think alike, but in the NFL, at least, that's not always the case. Take Bill Parcells and George Young. Parcells, who will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame this summer, is one of the best coaches in NFL history. Young, who should be in Canton, was one of the best judges of football flesh the game has known. Young, who died in 2001, was the general manager of the Giants for 19 seasons (1979-97). Parcells worked for him as head coach for eight of those seasons (1983-90)

The Eagles added four defensive backs in free agency, but none that can be considered slam dunk starters. So there was a feeling entering the draft that Chip Kelly and Howie Roseman were going to address the secondary fairly early in the process. In the end, though, the Eagles waited until the third day before they added North Carolina State safety Earl Wolff in the fifth round and Oregon State cornerback Jordan Poyer in the seventh. While Kelly said they selected prospects with grades higher than where they were drafted, not many fifth- or seventh-round players project as starters.